List of my cars

1. Morris Minor Traveller, 1961, 432 CYH

A toy one.

grey paintwork + varnished wood frame

bought 1973 August for 105£; sold 1976 June for 55£

2.9 pence/km over 19000 km and 34 months

I learnt on my mother's 1963 mini (989 YKJ) and a driving school car of a
then almost unknown make - a Datsun 1200. After I passed the test, I had the
use of the mini until it was replaced by a red 1964 Austin 1100 (DPF 628B).
Having decided to buy something of my own to take to university, I set out
to look for a van, maybe a minivan or an old A35 van. I ended up with this
moggie traveller, which was similar but looked better and had more
room, though it was more expensive. It came minus a passenger seat, though
one was easily found, but more worrying was that the engine boiled after
only a short run. I think I was done, and the seller switched engines
on me between sale and collection (he had a well-equipped garage and lots
of old parts around), though I didn't argue as another engine was found for
a fiver. With this fitted, the car did me for nearly three years, the
longest I've used the same car, until the MX-5.

It failed every MoT through rust and brake problems, but it was fixable
each year. The handbrake would work for a few weeks, then disappear, so in
hilly Bristol it was essential to leave it in gear, and learn which way to
point the wheels to the kerb for uphill and downhill parking. The footbrake
barely held it when you had to stop at the junction half-way down St
Michael's Hill. The floor was part original, and part old oilcans flattened
out and pop-rivetted over the holes. Special pins had to be made to hold the
windows up, as the winders were tired, and part of the trim in the back was
retained by bits of Meccano.

The front torsion bar suspension had sagged and to compensate someone
had removed the rubber bump-stops to get more clear movement. This was OK
until the suspension bottomed out on a pothole, then the metal-on-metal
impact sounded as if the front had fallen off. It had a proper starting
handle which I used when the battery was going and I wasn't able to park
it facing downhill. It also had red flashers at the back using the same
filaments as the brakelights with a relay box to switch functions; if you
braked while indicating only the brake light on the opposite side would
work.

The car came with a duplicate log book (a folding handwritten card in
those days) with the year of manufacture missing. That it was a 1961 was
deduced from it being later than flapping-arm trafficators and earlier than
orange flashers.

This is the car I had through the oil crisis of 1973..1974. I was issued
with petrol rationing coupons in November 1973, which looked like
this and
this.

The entire wiring diagram wiring diagram
fitted easily on one page in the Haynes book.

A car with character, and a history.

2. Triumph Spitfire 4 Mk II, 1966, ENH 843D

A faked picture using a model.

white

bought 1976 June for 205£; sold 1977 November for 45£

5.0 pence/km over 16000 km and 17 months

Memories. Breezing up to the Four Horseshoes on a summer's evening,
running back again late at night, roof off but still waving a hand into the
breeze to cool off. The summer of 1976 was hot, and I recall not having the
roof on for three or four months. Of course, it would rain a little now and
then, but I had a full tonneau to keep the inside dry, and I would drive it
in the rain with only the driver's side unzipped. You don't get very wet if
you can keep moving!

The downside was that the car was ten years old, and needed a lot of
attention. I became familiar with most of its innards, its lovely four
into two into one exhaust manifold, the twin SUs, the trunnions supporting
the outer ends of the swing-axles at the rear, the simple round instruments
and central flat panel dash. It was treacherous to drive if pushed
hard, you were likely to end up facing the wrong way; though, as
compensation, the swing-axle suspension seemed to promote impressive tyre
squeal on cornering even at moderately safe speeds.

It met its end as an MoT failure, with rust in body and chassis. I suppose
I should have kept it and restored it, but I didn't, I sold it to someone who
claimed he wanted it for parts, but actually fixed it and ran it again.

3. Morris Mini van (848), 1967, OPJ 115E

A stolen pic, from an ad.

grey

bought 1977 November for 165£; sold 1978 November for 100£

5.7 pence/km over 10000 km and 12 months

A forced purchase, to get me to work as the Spitfire was off the road. A
"friend" sold it to me, forgetting to tell me that there was a hole in the
petrol tank. "I didn't know - I could never afford to fill the tank more
than half-full" he said (the tank on an old minivan held about six UK gallons).
It had folding seats in the back, and galloping rust. One of the headlights
fell out while I was investigating why it was working intermittently (all
the metal forming the body return had gone), and on another occasion I was
sitting on its bonnet, kicking my heels against its side, until someone
pointed out that with every kick some of the sill was falling away.

Despite this, I sold it to a colleague at work (at 99960 miles) who ran
it for another 20000 miles.

4. BL Mini van (1000), 1978, YPL 675T

A model painted white to look like mine.

white

bought 1978 November for 2069£; sold 1980 December for 1150£

9.3 pence/km over 19000 km and 25 months

Ah, I thought, if I could cope with a 10-year-old minivan, then I could
buy a new one and run it for 10 years, at a depreciation cost of only 200
pounds/year, and be no worse off. So I had it Ziebarted against rust. Only
it didn't work. Newness becomes addictive, and anyway, I had become used to
change. I lasted only two years.

This was a good car, and it drove well, as can be deduced from my getting
through a set of front tyres in 10000 miles. Front wheel drive, and a light
back end, made fast cornering easy, and, because it weighed so little, it went
well even on its tiny engine.

Good, cheap, versatile transport; though an unusual vehicle to buy new
for private use. It easily beat 50mi/UKgall on a trip.

5. Austin Allegro 1.5L estate, 1980, LPL 937W

Outside the parents' house.

silver metallic

bought 1980 November for 4033£; sold 1982 August for 2000£

12.6 pence/km over 27000 km and 21 months

A much maligned car, probably deservedly, though by the time this one
was made (series 3) it had become a useful, reliable but boring car. The
square steering wheel ("Quartic" they called it) had long gone. Nevertheless,
I like the shape of the estate, and it looked smart with its silver paint
and black trim stripe. The first real car I had, so the decent trim and
equipment, and cloth-covered seats, seemed luxurious. The 1.5-litre twin-SU
engine made it reasonably quick, and it had 5 speeds long before this became
the norm.

However, on its first Sunday, it started to splutter and pour petrol
onto the road. As I needed the car, and I was still in fix-it mode, I
dismantled the carburettors and discovered a piece of brass swarf jamming
one of the needle valves open. Also, both window winders broke in the first
year, and the windscreen leaked (until it shattered and was replaced). So
maybe not so good.

6. MG Metro 1300, 1982, JNV 95Y

With Joan Merrall leaning on it outside a pub.
Was it me that parked it like that??

black

bought 1982 August for 5003£; sold 1984 June for 3600£'

8.1 pence/km over 37000 km and 22 months

There was a short gap between this one and the last, filled partly by
borrowing Janet's P-reg red Mini, and partly by hiring a VW Golf. The
Metro was supposed to be ready for August 1st, but it didn't arrive until
the 11th.

Great fun, not very fast but agile. This was the first in the modern
series of BL using the MG badge on pretty standard cars, and attracted
some interest at the time, though apart from the red seat belts and fancy
decals, the only difference from the ordinary 1.3 Metro was an extra 12
horsepower from the higher-compression engine.

The brakes were too small. They would overheat, smell, make noises and
stop working after about the third stop from 120km/h, and with the
roundabouts on the Milton Keynes grid roads spaced about every 800m they
got into this state quite often. My best effort was to get through a set of
pads in just over 8000 km. Later models had larger ventilated disks. Tyres
didn't last me long either.

7. MG Maestro 1600, 1984, A370 YNV

Even my photos of it have gone wrong.

black

bought 1984 June for 6970£; sold 1986 February for 3427£'

12.9 pence/km over 48000 km and 20 months

A bad buy. Value dropped like a stone, things went wrong, awful torque-steer
and scrabbling, electronic instruments went haywire. For some reason, this
car had an S-series engine, despite the early ones having a different
R-series engine, and later ones having a 2-litre injected engine. They
made this version from April to September 1984; there were only ever
2722 of them.
The carburettors were in a block almost as big as the head, squashed up at
the back of the engine and cooled by a special electric fan via a long duct.
This fan ran on for a few minutes after the engine was stopped. After this time
the carbs would get hot, and the car would be a pig to start, and a pig to
drive, until some air got to the carbs. It was also difficult to start from
cold, and would splutter and stall if stuck in a jam. The voice synthesiser
would announce that the engine was too hot first thing on a damp winter
morning. The engine would misfire and lose power in any sort of motorway
spray. I think the BL engineers came back from a good pub session one
Friday afternoon and designed this car as a joke.

Not sorry to see this one go, nor to see the last of
British Leyland/BL/Austin Rover as well.

8. Citroën BX17RD, 1986, C186 HMJ

Outside the old flat.

white

bought 1986 February for 6162£; sold 1988 January for 3900£'

7.9 pence/km over 52000 km and 23 months

Naturally, after a car that didn't run well cold, or hot, or in the wet,
a car that ran perfectly smoothly in all conditions - a diesel. Also by
comparison a very slow car, but a very comfortable one, with self-levelling
hydropneumatic suspension. Also an individual car, in styling and engineering,
with finger-tip clusters of controls rather than stalks, drum speedometer,
single wiper, handbrake on the front wheels and power disk brakes all round.
(These were not merely servo-assisted, there was no master cylinder and the
pedal hardly moved, it just operated a spool valve to let hydraulic fluid from
the main reservoir into the brakes - no engine, eventually no brakes at all
apart from the special handbrake. The same pump seemed to supply the power
steering, the brakes and the suspension, with a separate reservoir for the
brakes; there was a big, red warning sign on the dashboard saying "STOP" if
the hydraulic pressure or level fell.)

Very comfortable, practical and economical, averaging 5.8 l/100km.

9. Citroën AXGT, 1988, E493 BGS

Why didn't I wash it before taking its picture?

red

bought 1988 January for 6745£; sold 1989 November for 4200£

11.2 pence/km over 41000 km and 22 months

A little rocket, 85 horsepower and 720 kilograms.

And that's about it really. The AX was quite pretty, especially the GT
without the half-hidden rear wheels, but was an early victim of the modern
trend for providing clever storage for cups, bottles, &c rather than just
space for the sorts of things I want to keep. Minor controls were naff.
But basically, it was that light flimsy body allied with that light but
tuned-up 1.4 engine.

10. Fiat Panda 1000S, 1989, G292 GNH

Brand new.

red

bought 1989 October for 4840£; sold 1990 August for 3500£'

11.3 pence/km over 19000 km and 9 months

A change of mood. Not only was my driving of the AX getting a bit hairy
(it was fast and tempting, but it had limits), but I was on an economy kick,
hence a car that could be bought out of the proceeds of the private sale of
the AX. The Panda was interesting from a production engineering point of view.
The use of all flat glass, with left and right sides being the same part,
without spoiling the looks was ingenious. So was the washer bottle that also
served to retain the spare wheel (over the engine) and hold the small parts
of the tool kit, and was itself held by a single, vertical, self-tapping screw.
Someone thought about that.

The engine was good, and the inside cheerful, if not the peak of comfort.
There was more storage space than in many big cars.

Unfortunately, just as I was getting settled into it, I got promoted and
became eligible for a company car. As the cash alternative was only about
1700 GBP/annum it made no sense to keep the Panda, so the poor thing was
sold off early.

11. Ford Sierra 1.8LX, 1989, G153 TSU

The front looks worse.

blue

company car, 1990 July to 1990 August

2700 km and 1 month

Typical fill-in company car. OK, but no regrets when it went, except that
the next one was worse. At least someone else was paying.

12. Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.6L, 1988, F515 OUR

The offending boot.

blue

company car, 1990 August to 1990 September

3200 km and 1.5 months

The most horrible car imaginable. Slow, badly-equipped, ugly and masses
of boot sticking out of the back that you couldn't see. Awful. Even when
someone else was paying.

13. Rover 214GSi, 1990, H823 CDH

Another crap photo.

light blue metallic upper, grey lower

company car, 1990 September to 1993 September

97000 km and 36 months

The least boring choice from a list of very boring cars. Also, the most
powerful and best-equipped on the list that came in under the (then) tax
threshold of 1400 cc. The alternator failed, and it took the Rover dealer two
days to fix it. Also brake pads wore to metal shortly after a service. 1400
K-series engine was generally good, but gutless at low revs, so it was
difficult to drive quickly and quietly. Comfort was appreciated on a trip
from Milton Keynes to Inverness, but it was surprisingly noisy, both
perceived and using a noise meter, mine was worse than a diesel ZX.

14. Fiat Cinquecento SX, 1993, L399 FNK

Early arrival at work.

bordeaux red metallic

bought 1993 August for 5901£; sold 1995 March for 4200£'

9.3 pence/km over 44000 km and 20 months

By this time, the company car cash alternative was up to 4000 GBP/annum,
so, with the Rover's lease up, it was time to go back to my choice of car.
Another economy period, showing that it was possible to run a new car for
half of the allowance, even keeping it for less than two years.

The 500 was one of those cars that seemed to have been designed for a
purpose, not to a compromise. Unlike most cars, it was not obliged to try to
appeal as a "family car", or to drivers with racing ambitions; it set out
to be personal, urban transport, and it did that very well. There was masses
of room in the front seats, and adequate space in the back with the seats
folded - a sort of 2-seater hatchback, which was how mine was configured most
of the time. It also averaged less than 5.6 litres/100km.

You could use that parking space that everyone else drives past, and
leave it anywhere, they don't get stolen.

15. Fiat Punto 75ELX 3d, 1995, M596 UTM

Glowing.

exploit (yellow) metallic

bought 1995 March for 9332£; sold 1996 September for 6400£

13.4 pence/km over 37000 km and 17 months

With the allowance now up to 5000 GBP/annum, I could still win with a more
expensive car, so the Punto followed. This was bought about 50% for the shape
and 50% for the colour, that metallic yellow that was so distinctive, until
Nissan started doing Micras in something similar.

Perhaps surprisingly, the yellow Punto was a "waving" car, by which I
mean drivers of similar cars wave or flash their lights. This shows that
lots of people like me bought it for the colour and were very concious of
it. Other "waving" cars have been the Spitfire; MG Metro (early days);
Cinquecento (early days) and especially the Smart.

The Punto was very comfortable, very well equipped, and had a superb engine.
This was the 1.2, the second in a range of four engines, and it was flexible,
willing and frugal. I had no problems averaging 6.23 litres/100km.

16. Mazda MX-5 1.8i, 1996, P256 OBM

Day 1.

British racing green

bought 1996 September for 16190£; sold 2013 September for 500£

23.6 pence/km over 187000 km and 205 months

(That costing works out as 28% fuel, 37% servicing,
repairs, tax, tyres and insurance, and 35% depreciation. It burnt 12400£ of petrol.)

A complete change, a regression back twenty years, an attempt to re-create
the Spitfire age, which was cruelly cut short by the MoT;
details. The cost per km was much higher than any other
car I've had, despite having 17 years to spread the depreciation over, because
of the much lower mileage in its last 12 years and the poor fuel consumption
(8.11 L/100km or 35 mi/UKgall).

17. MCC Smart Passion, 2001, Y265 ARP

It fits straight-on too!

red panels and silver frame

bought 2001 July for 6700£; sold 2003 October for 3000£

16.5 pence/km over 40000 km and 27 months

I decided to buy a new car for commuting and to keep the MX-5 for playtime.
The Smart had the advantages of being cheap, efficient, fun, and short enough
(2.5m) to fit onto what was left of our drive behind the Focus. Lots of fun
features: a 6-speed automatic or semi-manual gearbox, 3-cyl 600cm3
turbo-charged rear engine, ABS, traction control, glass roof, and left-hand
drive.

Unfortunately, it was not trouble-free. The car itself was no less reliable
than many, but the dealer chain did not seem to be able to support it. I had
a minor shunt in it which cracked the front plastic skin and broke the plastic
lugs on the headlamp. Although the repair took only an hour or so to bolt on
new parts, these parts took more than four months to arrive. If I hadn't taken
it apart myself and improvised some temporary supports from steel strips so
that the headlamp could be aimed properly it would have been off the road all
this time.

Then the central locking packed up, blowing fuses. It wasn't useable like
this, as there were no conventional locks on the doors. After about a week,
they'd decided it was probably down to some big and expensive computer box
costing 500 GBP. Now the brochure said the warranty was 3 years or 25000 miles,
and this car was at 2.5 years and 24987 miles. But the warranty documentation
said the limit was 40000km, which is only 24860 miles, so it was not covered,
but by special dispensation from Daimler-Chrysler they'd repair for free, but
no substitute car. Two weeks later, no word, so I chased again: the computer
hadn't fixed it, they'd ordered a whole new wiring loom, which would take weeks
to come and days to fit. At five weeks with no news I gave up and sold the car
back to them at a disgracefully low price. The Smart dealership was contained
within a huge Mercedes Benz place, with common workshops and parts counters,
but each with its own separate front door so the customers didn't have to mix;
I wonder if the level of service was the same.

Oh, and the transmission was fun too. It wasn't like most automatics with a
torque converter and instant-change planetary gears, but an electrically-worked
conventional 6-speed box with an electrically-worked conventional dry clutch.
It changed gear just like you would, only at its own speed and in its own time.
This was usually OK, but a real pain at roundabouts if you didn't quite stop.
Typically, as you coasted up to the line, it would be quite happy to stay in
2nd or even 3rd, until you put your foot down to get into a gap, and THEN it
decided to change down. Nothing happened until it finished; the engine didn't
even rev up because the computer was working the throttle, not you. If you
panicked and pushed the pedal right down, it would decide to change down again,
so take even longer. Then, seconds later, it would drop the clutch and let the
engine fly. And don't think you could get round this by using semi-auto mode.
It took the signal from the gearlever as a sort of polite request to change
gear if OK by its rules. Sometimes, if you asked it to change down at just the
same time as it was deciding you'd left it too late, it would do both your
change and one of its own so you went down two gears when you asked for just
one.

So it's gone. Pity, it was cute.

18. Fiat Seicento 1.1SX, 2002, RF52 LYU

First day, sunny and by the canal.

silver

bought 2003 October for 4995£; sold 2005 September for 1500£'

15.4 pence/km over 42000 km and 23 months

Another cheap car, just small enough to not quite fit on the drive with
the Focus, it's tiny, but still a lot bigger than the Smart. And it has
three pedals, and a gearlever that does what it's told. And a spare
wheel. And simple electrical systems that don't all depend on the
computer. It's a Fiat, it will go wrong. But with any luck, any decent
mechanic will be able to fix it.

Fiat was about to replace the Seicento with the new Panda and they
were clearing their stocks. Somehow this one had done only 80 miles but was
registered and nearly a year old.

19. Fiat Panda Dynamic 1.3 Multijet, 2005, KF55 BSY

It's called Guacamole Green.

green

bought 2005 September for 7100£; sold 2010 March for 1700£'

13.7 pence/km over 101000 km and 66 months

Bored with the Seicento. Nothing wrong with it, but time for something
different. New Panda is not quite basic enough to be a real small Fiat, but
it has an interesting tiny (1.25-litre) turbo-diesel engine that promises
excellent fuel economy, and it comes in some striking colours.

The Seicento attracted because of its simplicity. The Panda is not simple.
The wipers are linked so that the back wiper runs if the front wiper is
running and reverse gear is selected. The interior light comes on with the
remote central locking and when the ignition key is pulled out, and it
fades on and off. The radio can change volume with speed. The accelerator
pedal is just an electrical input to the engine computer. All this
interlinking is what makes life difficult when something goes wrong, as on
the Smart. One can only hope that it keeps on going.

20. Fiat Panda Dynamic 1.3 Multijet, 2010, KU10 ***

Dirty on day 2.

black metallic

bought 2010 March for 9900£; sold 2015 Feb

21.3 pence/km over 80000 km and 59 months

After 100000km the Panda was beginning to feel a bit tired, and as I was
still quite happy with it I just replaced it with another one. This one
was almost identical except for air-con and MP3 on the CD. It managed to burn
only 95% as much fuel as its almost identical predecessor despite being driven
as hard as a little Panda can go.

21. Ford Fiesta 1.5TDCi Titanium 3d, 2013, LT63 ***

Day one, outside work.

candy blue pearlescent

bought 2013 September for 15500£

I have bought a Ford at last. These latest Fiestas look interesting, and even smart in the 3-door style. Titanium spec has lots of gadgets, but it was a lot about colour. Switching back now to having just one car each, the Mazda at 17 years old was getting to be more of a project than a plaything and after 8 years the Pandas were getting just a little bit boring.

Note: cost/km figures include: depreciation, road fund licence, insurance,
service, repairs, fuel. They do not include finance costs (I usually "borrow"
from myself) and incidental consumables such as cleaning materials.
Depreciation is buying price less selling price, and so can be heavily skewed
by different dealers either inflating trade-in values or discounting the list
price; either way gives the same "cost to change" for the car being purchased,
but makes the cost of each individual car more obscure. Cars which were
traded-in are shown by a ' after the selling price.